The crisis in girls' sports

I recently listened to a fantastic podcast hosted by Malcolm Gladwell on the subject that I am learning to call deeply about — women’s movement and their hormones. I owe this interest due to the women in my life and also to the extraordinary founders and team at Femmi who are not only changing the sporting industry, but they are changing the way women move.?

I am often struck by the gaps or blindspots that exist in human nature, that when exposed to give me pause for reflection, and also drive me to contribute to changing this for good. We often turn our mind and actions to what we are exposed to, if we care deeply and we are compelled to take action. I care deeply for the health and wellbeing of wahine and there is much work to do to support the causes that are making a difference. That is why I joined the Femmi movement. That is why I also have a preference for mentoring women. I am also getting so much back in return, as I learn myself.?

Here is the link to Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History Series and the podcast — The Crisis in Girls’ Sports with Lauren Fleshman and Linda Flanagan . It is worth a listen if you are interested in the subject area.

I thought I would share some of the points and reflections that I got from this podcast. It has made me think. I hope it makes me do more to enable change. There are some very challenging aspects as a society for us to lean into.

Malcolm Gladwell wanted to talk about his observation that youth sports are no longer the oasis they used to be. That something very troubling is happening from high pressure abusive coaches, over-involved parents and what is worse for girls, eating disorders and distorted body images to name just some of the issues in youth sports, including massively dropping participation rates.?

Malcolm, as the host poses a framework in his discussion with his guests, who are each in their own rights experts in the space. Linda Flanagan is a runner and author who has written a book about kids sports and Lauren Fleshman is also a runner and author who wrote a book about her own experiences in her career as a runner. The framework he uses is ‘assuming’ that you are talking to a ‘martian’ in a spaceship and the martian has no background or context of culture or sports in America. All the martian has been given is Linda and Lauren’s books — and he has some questions for the guests.?

Question 1: should we ban men from ever coaching women??

Yes. Because it would be better for women if women coached women. You can’t disagree with that.?

They do however conclude that we should give men a chance, if they show that they want to learn about the women’s body, their physiology and how to tailor training programmes for women. If they can show this intent and invest in their own knowledge, then they deserve a chance, if they don’t, they don’t deserve a chance. We need more education on women’s physiology for women, for girls, for parents, for people who participate in sport and in life.?

And we need to change the ratio’s of women coaches coaching women and for me, in particular women coaches coaching girls.

Question 2: is it time to pull the plug on athletic scholarships and preferences in College (University)??

What signals do we create by having this system of scholarship especially when young girls and emerging women are going through such significant physiological body changes? The guests compare some different systems of school age championships and participation which are super interesting and I know that many of the European systems appear to be much more successful at enabling participation over the long-term. I now understand why some sports in New Zealand have removed national tournaments for sub 15 year olds — yes, I was that parent who did not understand then why they were doing this.?

Part of the discussion is super interesting on the time that women runners campaigned the NCAA to be included in the national championships and Linda and Lauren’s reflections that maybe that was a mistake.?

Another challenge — what percentile do you design sports programmes for, the 95th percentile or the 50th percentile? If you are focused on 1% of the athletes, you get clear outcomes and results. As this parent, I know focusing on participation is more important long-term for the health of my girls.

The hosts would like to stop athletic scholarships — I understand why, I appreciate the reasons and I reflect that it feels unstoppable. That is not a good answer.

Question 3: Why don’t we ban parents from participation in school sports??

Good idea. Ban them and tell them they can only come and watch if they behave LOL!

Have you reflected recently what teachers and coaches of sports teams in schools think of parents? It is not good, it is actually very poor. I know from my own journey, it has been a big learning curve on so many fronts to learn how to behave, how to not get involved, how to support, how not to be a nightmare, and my girls are getting near the end of their school sports — shame as I have not always been conscious. I hope I am conscious now, and I do feel super grateful that I get to see one of our daughters play and participate, while the other we have to listen to her reflections as she lives in a different city.?

Question 4: Should we ban bun huggers and crop tops from girls and women’s sports??

Yes. Because it is objectifying females.?

No. Because women have a choice, and they own their own bodies.

There is no performance edge from wearing them, is there??

Why is it that we have this in our society??Especially if the negative cost is so great.

The hosts talk about the objectifying of women’s bodies. The images of six pack, lean women athletes all over social and in society — how does that help young girls think about and act on their own self image? Does this create so much unreasonable pressure and expectation? Are we surprised we have so many body image issues? No.?

Banning bun huggers and crop tops would would help, but also getting more men to wear them would not solve the issues either.

Question 5: Should we ban serious ie State and National competitive running and sports until the age of 15??

Yes. The hosts are are clear on this. You can still have the local contests, but don’t create the pressure points that exist for our youth. Let them be, let them participate.?

There were also some statistics that I learned from the podcast which I am sharing:?

Percentage of Girls/Women coached by Women:?

- College (University) — 42%

- High School — 20%

- Youth Sports — 25%

Note, in running the percentage is 17%.

The different physiological trajectories of young women and men:?

Did you know that post puberty many girls/women have different growth rates. Boys just grow, grow and grow — they get stronger and their performance will just keep climbing. Women grow differently, and often they can flat-line in their performance. It is proven that women peak much later in their life, even into their mid to late 20s. I wonder how many girls know these things? I wonder how many parents know that if your daughter is not quite hitting the previous results or targets for a year or two that it is totally explainable to their own development and hormones? Crazy that this is not more well known. Imagine what happens to girls and their families if they don’t know this, and they work harder, they stop eating, they try to rid themselves of their period to keep in their mind developing their performance — how terrible, but with the knowledge they can understand and work with it. We all can.?

Do we as a society sexualise everything that are specifically female??

- Breasts are sexualised

- The menstrual cycle is something that is thought to be dirty?

- Exercise gear between women and men is different, typically body hugging in women.?

What is the participation rate in sports between wealthy and not families??

- For families earning over $100,000 the participation rate is 70%

- For families earning $25,000 the participation rate is 31%

What is the percentage of coaches that want to quit because of parents??

- 58% (and climbing)?

I continue to learn a lot — and I can learn so much more not only about the physiology of women, but also the psychology of women.?

On the point of physiology there is not enough research on sport and hormones but which is now being highlighted by articles like this where it is being shared that women footballers are more likely to suffer knee injuries than men and further that for most women a high risk time each month for injury is when they are ovulating. I can’t believe how many people including women don’t know this, we can do better at lifting awareness and knowledge — we are what we are exposed to, so we need to lift the exposure and access. Does your daughter’s coach ask her team to train differently if they are ovulating? I guarantee you no!

Thank you for reading — soon, Lydia from Femmi is heading to the US to learn about that market, and to look at how Femmi can contribute to supporting girls and women with exercise in alignment to their hormones. If you want to get involved and/or support the movement there are many ways — get in touch with Femmi, follow them on social , check their website out and connect with the founders Lydia and Esther . You could even start a Femmi Run Community in your town or participate in the Femmi Education programmes to up-skill your own knowledge. Femmi will also be raising capital to support their growth, but that is for a later time, after the release of something pretty exciting which is in alpha right now.

Here also are links to the books by Lauren and Linda. I have read Lauren’s and it is compulsory reading if you have daughters and/or are coaching or supporting girls and women in sport. It is a shocking realisation when you read it.?

Lauren Fleshman — Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in Man’s World ?

Linda Flanagan — Take Bak the Game: How Money and Mania are Ruining Kids’ Sports — and Why it Matters ?

Finally, next time you are supporting your daughters in their sports, think, observe and reflect — don’t pressure, don’t be that parent and if in doubt, just listen without judgement, there is so much pressure our girls’ are going through that we need to be there for them and for them to feel that support.

Hammy

PS — I write these articles, not as an expert, but as an observer who is trying to learn more, listen more and make a difference, I apologise if I have something wrong, if I offend anyone, that is not my intention, it is to help and contribute to society being better for all?

Lydia O'Donnell Esther Keown Femmi